Priscilla C. Jaramillo; Katterina Fuentes; Carla Cortés; Carlos Cisternas & Luis A. Salazar
Summary
Alcoholism is an important public health problem. In recent years, alcohol metabolism caused interest, since it has been considered a possible biological determinant of alcohol consumption behavior. Several studies have focused on finding and understanding the influence of polymorphisms affecting genes that encode for enzymatic systems involved in the hepatic metabolism. The rs671 polymorphism of the gene encoding ALDH2 has been associated with lower alcohol consumption by leading to acetaldehyde accumulation in blood. This genetic variant is frequently found in Asian population and has been considered as protector factor of alcoholism in these individuals. In the present study, 207 unrelated-adult individuals were included. Alcohol consumption was recorded using a structured questionnaire. The rs671 polymorphism was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction followed by enzymatic digestion. Furthermore, classical biomarkers for alcohol consumption were assessed using enzymatic and hematological techniques. The frequency of homozygote genotype for the A allele (AA) was 3 and 2.8% in those subjects defined as alcohol drinkers and non-alcohol drinkers respectively. The genotypes distribution and allelic frequencies were similar among the studied subject (p>0.05). These data suggest that rs671 ALDH2 gene polymorphism is not associated to alcohol consumption in the studied population.
KEY WORDS: Alcoholism; Genetic markers; ALDH2; Polymorphism.
How to cite this article
JARAMILLO, P. C.; FUENTES, K.; CORTES, C.; CISTERNAS, C. & SALAZAR, L. A. Interaction between rs671 polymorphism of the ALDH2 gene and alcohol consumption in Chilean individuals. Int. J. Morphol., 33(1):68-72, 2015.
